Chinese Couples Turn Out In Droves For Valentine’s Day
Chinese Valentine’s Day was a big box office draw for couples, FilmBiz Asia reports. The Tuesday holiday set a record with $22.9M in takings. That was largely down to three films: Pacific Rim, which added $5.74M; sequel Tiny Times 2 with an extra $5.6M: and Fan Bing ringing up a further $4.7M in One Night Surprise. The films were up 81%, 105% and 156%, respectively, compared with Monday, FBA said.

Zhang Yimou Eyeing Screen Reunion With Gong Li?Also in China, veteran director Zhang Yimou is tipped to be prepping a reteam with actress Gong Li. During a financial conference this week, Le Vision Pictures CEO Zhang Zhao reportedly said the director will shoot Return, “a Cultural Revolution story,” in the fourth quarter of the year. “He has made commercial films for 10 years, and has got fed up. Now he wants to come back to make art house film and collaborate with Gong Li,” the executive reportedly said. According to local media, Return is an adaption of Yan Geling’s novel, The Criminal Lu Yanshi. Geling wrote the source material for Zhang’s Flowers Of War and also collaborated on the script. The director and actress worked together on numerous films including Curse of the Golden Flower,Raise the Red Lantern, The Story of Qiu Ju, and Red Sorghum.

Parker Posey Film Festival Returning For Year 2
London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts will be the setting for the 2nd annual Parker Posey Film Festival. Fest directors Oliver Hancock and Sam Cuthbert are big Posey fans and feel she’s “never quite received the acknowledgement” that she’s due. On the screening schedule are the features Party Girl, Fay Grimm and Henry Fool along with two episodes of Louie. The event runs September 14 and 15.

A Company Filmed Entertainment Goes Local
Berlin-based A Company Filmed Entertainment is to start releasing local-language titles via its distribution arms in Russia, Hungary and Czech Republic. The company has previously handled mostly U.S. and European indies. In Russia, it will kick off with comedy Classmates, featuring an appearance by Snoop Dogg. A Company Hungary has two local movies on its roster: black comedy Heavenly Shift and Karlovy Vary winner Le Grand Cahier. The first film to come out in the Czech Republic will be Vejška, a sequel to the 2007 hit Gympl.